Power Placement
by Dragon Pants
Summary: Layla doesn't believe in labels... [finished]
1. 1

Standard Disclaimers apply.

So this Idea actually was turning around in my head for a while, I'm not sure if someone has written something like it as of yet, but this is my take on it.

Power Placement

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Layla and Principle Powers stared at each other across the desk, they were at quite a stand still. They had been at this for nearly and hour and a half.

"Miss Green, if you would please be reasonable, you belong in hero class."

"I'm sorry Principle Powers," Layla's tone was anything but, "I just don't agree with the labeling of human beings."

"But your demonstration during home coming clearly shows you have the capabilities to be great."

"I don't have to be a hero to be great, I can just be great being who I am."

"Layla," the principles tone switched to a more gentle one, "Do you realize you want to challenge decades old tradition?"

The girl nodded, "I was always taught that I have to fight for what I want, and shouldn't' give into things I don't think are right."

Principle Powers looked at her sternly, "Sky High bylaws state that pupils must be sorted into hero and hero support according to capabilities, Coach Boomer should never had let you get away without testing, not only was he being childish, but it could have been a hazard to the school."

Layla simply gave her a pointed look.

The older woman sighed, they were back to this again. "Miss Green, if you would like to fight the matter you can bring it up at the next school board meeting, but that matter is out of my hands, as an educator I must put you in the class I feel best suits you or I risk my job."

"I don't believe in giving up what I believe in, I'm ready to fight it."

"Well since you are refusing, I have no choice but to put you in detention until, you either decide to attend hero class or are given the clearance to stay in hero support, each day you will spend lunch in detention and be given the daily work of hero class."

Layla grimaced, it was harsh, but she was will to do it. Nodding she though it was a fair enough compromise.

Principle Powers then added, "The only class you will attend with the rest of your peers is save the citizen."

The only response was a slight eye roll. The principle then escorted the younger girl into the detention room for the remainder of the day.

After School Zack caught up with Layla as they reached the bus, "Hey, how was your first day of hero class?"

"Didn't go." Was the short reply.

"You got into hero class?" Will sat down next to her, "I didn't see you."

"Thats because I didn't go."

Zack gave her a blank expression, "They have a new type of class?"

"No, I just didn't go, instead I talked to the Principle."

"And?" Will raised his eyebrows.

"I have detention for the rest of the week, and into the next week, until the school board discusses it anyways."

"Wait what? What about lunch?"

"In the detention room, the only thing I'll be let out for is save the citizen."

"Thats harsh, are they allowed to do that?"

"I think so, it's not that big of a deal, besides, I'm standing up for a cause, so it's worth it."

Later that night Will and Layla were on top of his roof. Will casually put his arm around her, "You know hero class wouldn't be that bad, you could be my lab partner, you know now that Gwen is gone."

"As tempting as that is, some one has to stand up for Hero support, it's about time that happened, the system is archaic."

He looked at her for a moment then smiled, "I'm proud of you."

She leaned into him, "Thanks, so you'll help me right?"

"I'll always be by you Layla."

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So when I originally wrote this I planned for it to be a oneshot, but as I'm looking at it now, it probably has good potential to be at least 3-4 chapters long, should it be? Or just stay this way you tell me.


	2. 2

So I've decided to give the chaptered thing a shot, warning though I've never really written anything longer than a couple chapters, I don't have the patience. So heres the seccond chapter, I think it may be just a little pointless.

Power Placement

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The next day Layla reported straight to Principal powers, the older lady didn't say anything, just lead the red head straight to the empty room. Head held high she marched in without a second glance, her text books and assignments were already on a desk.

Being confined to the detention room was a boring existence. The room seemed to extend forever, but in fact didn't, there seemed to be a certain point that you couldn't get farther away from the door, no matter how far she walked.

Layla fell into a simple pattern, every day she would finish her daily work, eat her bag lunch, then sit around for the next couple of hours to think and plan out her presentation to the school board, and explore not that there was much to explore past the desks and he white semi-existent walls. For the last hour of the day she would join everyone for save the citizen.

It wasn't until Thursday that she hand the opportunity to talk to someone else. Unsurprisingly it was the local bad boy, Warren Peace.

Layla was quite startled when he walked in. Warren simply nodded and sad down, the door whooshed closed behind him. She quickly finished her last assignment in mad science then looked up, "So, what brings you in the nuetralization room?"

"Fighting," Was the only short reply.

"Who?"

"Someone insulted my father."

"I see, so why aren't they in here with us?"

"Infirmary."

"Oh," Layla put on a bright smile to try and change the subject, "So are you going to get out for save the citizen?"

"Think so."

Layla looked down at her sandwich, "Thats good at least."

"Hows your resistance going?"

"Well, my presentation is almost done," She handed Warren her notes.

"I thought it was only to let you stay in sidekick class?"

"Thats what they think, but I thought if I come up with an idea to completely rework it they'll have to listen at the very least."

There was a grunt, "Whatever Hippie."

There was silence then as Layla continued staring at her notes occasionally writing something down. Finally they door made a noise as Principal Powers escorted them to save the citizen.

Personally Layla didn't really have a problem with this game, sure it was barbaric and slightly humiliating, but it was the closest to real world application as they would get. And saving a life fake or not was important.

She sat quietly besides Will and Warren took the seat next to her. Will poked her, "Hey."

She smiled, "Hey yourself."

"How was your day?"

"Same old, same old, except I did have a visitor today."

"Oh, who?"

"Warren," She indicated the surly boy next to her.

"They let you have visitors?" The news startled Will somewhat, it wasn't prison.

"No, he had detention."

"I see," Layla could see the cog turning in Will's mind.

"William Theodore Stronghold, don't even think about getting detention on purpose."

He grinned at her, "But think about it," He pressed his forehead to hers, "We could be alone, in a room, with no one to bother us..." Will trailed off suggestively.

Before Layla could even fathom an adequate response, Coach Boomer, broke in, "You two! Lovebirds, get down here."

Will and Layla look at each other and shrugged. As they began heading down Warren smirked, "This might be interesting."


	3. 3

Hey all sorry for being a sloppy updater, but I've been a little busy, I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner, although I think it'll be the hardest to write, and involve slight research... anyways this chapter is kind of just a filler fluff chapter, Layla presents to the school board next chapter.

Power Placement

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Across the desks of the neutralization room, Layla glared at Will, his only response was a sheepish smile. Her gaze was anything but humorous, finally Will just looked down.

"I can't believe you threw the citizen at coach Boomer and told him to fuck off."

"Well it worked didn't it?"

"Depends on your definition of worked."

After successfully saving the citizen, with them incapacitating the villains and Will heroically flying and rescuing the citizen seconds before it became wood chips, the Coach asked them who they wanted to compete against next. Instead of replying with names, Will threw the doll at him (with full force, knocking him off his very, very tall chair) and told him to "fuck off." Startled from the fall, and the outburst of his normally quiet student, he couldn't even come up with the words to say. Save the citizen quickly became quite the riot, until Principal Powers stepped in giving Will a two day detention.

Josie Stronghold was quite disappointed with her son, not understanding the ulterior motive of his outburst. Will's Father however was secretly delighted, he viewed it as putting the 'gym teacher man' in his place.

Will looked at Layla and casually put his hand on top of hers. There was a small blush as Layla continued to work pretending not to notice the nice gesture.

"I know you weren't given any work in here, but I for one have a lot," it was ment to sound clipped, but instead came out more affectionate than anything.

Will just gave one of his goofy grins back and let her work.

It was a while until either of them spoke again.

After lunch Layla sat back, immensly satisfied, "I think I have it, no, I definitely have it."

"Oh?" Will looked up from his nap interested, although he only had a faint idea of what.

"My presentation?" He gave her a sleepy smile, Layla sighed, "Here," she shoved her papers twoards the boy.

He scanned a few pages muttering the words to himself. After skimming it all, he looked up, "Wow," his smile was now a full grin, "This is amazing. They'll have to change it for sure."

"Thanks," Layla returned his smile.

"So... does this mean you're done?" Will tried to sound casual, but there was a nervous undertone.

The read headed girl, didn't get it. "Yeah, we'll I'll probably do final research when I get home, bu-" She hadn't even noticed when Will stood up and quickly crossed the space between them and silenced her in the best way possible.

Layla, surprised a bit at first began to relax. Just as Will began to lean her back against a desk the doors wooshed open.

Will and Layla sprang apart as if they were kittens caught in the butter dish. Neither of them made eye contact as Principal Powers strode in. Both were now blushing profusely.

"Miss Green, a word with you place, and please, don't sit on top of the desks, they have chairs for a reason."

If possible Layla blushed a deeper shade of red, seeing as she was no longer sitting on the desk, that meant the principal had probably seen the whole thing from a separate location. Layla followed the elder woman outside of the neutralization room.

Once there she handed Layla a packet

"Whats this?" She studied the cover sheet carefully.

"Believe it or not Miss Green, you are not the only one to question the system. Others have tried, and all of them have failed. It took me a few days, but here are all the summaries of the presentations and why they were denied. I think you may find it useful," all of this was said with a suppressed smile.

Layla had to stop herself from throwing her arms around Principal Powers. Happy that she was on her side, even though she wasn't allowed to take sides, made her deliriously happy, "Thank you, I'll put it to good use."

"I know you will."


	4. 4

Alright so here's an update, which still wasn't very timely (my apologizes). I've tried to make everything very accurate, with the philosophical arguments. I haven't read Agamben in a very long time, and I've never read Berbube, but I'm decently familiar with his argument. I realize some of the arguments are a bit over the top, but I think thats what you get when you get when a debater playing with sky high characters... 

Power Placement

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"This is it," Layla said to herself as she took a deep breath. She was standing in front of the board dressed in her best green sweater and brown corduroys. Looking back she scanned the crow for familiar faces, her mother was sitting as close as she could, dead center. A couple of rows farther back were Will, Warren and the rest of their group. Looking away from his Conversation with Zack, Will gave her a crooked grin.

Layla turned back the the board, she was already the third person to present. Because of Principal Powers information she new two out of the seven members would vote for her not mater what, they'd been trying to change this for years. There were also three people that would almost always vote against it, she HAD to win the vote of the other two.

"In the 1951 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling stated that 'separate but equal' was impossible. By labeling one group as the superior and one as the inferior makes what we are doing the same type of segregation that was in our schools."

Looking around Layla saw a board member give her a nod and an encouraging smile.

"Recently, I was told I belong in hero class, because of my abilities. But I believe we need to rethink this structure. The idea that I should be in hero class isn't because of my merit, nor is it because of how hard I've worked towards a goal, it is merely an accident of birth."

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"Whether we are deemed to be hero material or we are thought to be a side kick, there really should be no difference. Accidents shouldn't make on person better than another, and that is not the situation. David Berube once said that in order to kill someone you must think of them as less than human. Once we are able to think of our fellow people as less than human, we can justify every epoch and evil there is, from slavery to genocide, dehumanization is evils' most powerful weapon."

She flipped a few of her note cards to get the right one.

"If we let our children get the idea implanted when they're young that they're never good enough or bright enough, then we have to ask, as educators what kind of message is received? Professor Agamben has written a book called Homo Sacer, or the sacred man. In it he describes a state of exception. In this state the homo sacer can be killed at any time, but he cannot be sacrificed for any reason, because he is not worth it. That is the life of a side kick, their lives are dictated by someone else, they are reduced down to a bare life where they exist not for themselves, but for a source that is out of their control. That is why I refuse to be apart of a flawed system, and I urge you to reconsider the current higerarchy.

Layla stepped back and smiled, "Thank you."

The members of the board looked at each other, finally the director spoke, "That board would like a short recess to discuss the issue, please return within the next half hour."

As Layla walked towards the exit, countless people patted her on the back and shook her hand, telling her what a great job she did. As she reached the front lawn of the school Will caught up with her, he picked her up, hugged her tight and whispered in her ear, "You, are so amazing."

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So I think this is my second to last chapter, but I'm leaving next week, for a trip, I'll try to finish this story before I leave though, but if I don't, it'll be one of the first things I do when I come back!


	5. 5: epilogue

So here is the ending. The final chapter of power placement. I have to say it's been really fun. Probably the easiest thing I've ever written because it wanted me to write it so badly. And it probably has a lot of range from the intellectual parts to the fluff. So here we go, I hope you enjoyed it.

Power Placement

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Layla pulled the faded newspaper clipping out out of the sleeve to get a better look at it. Tracing a finger lightly over the picture she smiled and read the caption out loud, "Layla Green and friend Will Stronghold wait for school board decision." The picture was just of her and Will standing in front of the green arms around each other smiling, the photographer had been very insistent on having THE Will Stronghold in the picture.

A pair of arms wrapped around her and a head came to rest on her shoulder. He, spoke quietly, "That was a good day."

Layla turned her head sideways to face Will, "Yeah, it was."

"It really was too bad though."

"It's okay."

"You were so mad."

"Was not, more like... disappointed."

"Understandable."

"It was just that I worked so hard, and so long, I was sure that they would have to listen, instead of just disregard it." She shook her head. In the end the bureaucracy had prevailed, and it appeared true that no matter what you said or did, it would stay the same, because people were afraid of being different from the Status quo.

Will took the picture from her hand, and put it back in it's spot of her high school scrap book, "Enough dwelling on the past, we have to look forward now."

Layla smiled up at him and kissed him on the cheek, "Alright lets go."

Giving Will her hand she allowed him to pull her up and drag her along. Ever the gentleman he opened the passenger side door for her before climbing in himself, "So you never told me where you were taking me."

He looked at her with a crooked smile on his face, "It's a surprise."

Sitting back she had a suppressed smile on her face, Layla would probably never admit it but she loved Will's surprises, the were so strange yet so perfect.

She was broken out of her thoughts when she heard the engine turn off, she looked out and all she saw was a park, giving Will a strange look she followed him out of the car. He walked around for a bit, as if trying to figure something out. He stopped between two tree's and looked immensely satisfied with himself. Dropping her hand he looked her in the eye.

Layla raised her eyebrows in question, "Why are we here?" She recognized the park, it was the one that their parents used to take them to play with the other children.

"You don't remember?"

"Well I remember the place, but I don't know why I'm here."

"Well Miss Green, this is the exact spot where we met. Remember our mothers told us to play, I wanted to go on the swings, and you wanted the sand box, so you shoved me over and I fell all the way down the hill."

She laughed at the memory, "Okay, I remember. Now why are we here?"

"For our anniversary."

"But thats not for another 3 weeks."

"I know but I wanted to surprise you, and this was the only way I could think of for it to be a total surprise." With that he pulled out a small hard box and motioned for her to open it.

Taking the small black box in one of her shaking hands she opened it slowly, inside was the perfect ring, gasping at the site of it, she looked Will in the eye.

He looked at her expectantly, "Well?"

"Well what? Are you proposing?"

Will smiled sheepishly, "No, not yet. It's just a promise ring and a five year present."

Layla put it on, and closed the distance between them, putting her arms around his neck she responded, "It's perfect." And kissed him firmly on the lips.

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Tell me what you thought! I wanted the ending to be nice, but just a little bitter sweet, which is why she ended up loosing the case. But I still wanted it to be happy so hence the fluff in the end. Lots of love and thanks so much for all the reviews.


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